Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer today said it would be more prudent to spend money towards further improving the ferry service which has been in existence since the 1920s, rather than constructing new jetties for the catamarans.
“The ferry has also become an iconic symbol for Penang and one of the most important attractions drawing tourists to Penang all these years,” he said in a statement.
He added that the present ferry service seems more suitable as it is easier to manoeuvre and can also load and unload vehicles of all sizes and passengers on both sides.
Penang Port Commission (PPC) chairman Tan Teik Cheng was reported by The Star today as claiming that the high-speed catamarans will be introduced to enable pedestrians to commute faster between the island and mainland.
Tan said this was among the developments following confirmation that the ferries would be sold to Prasarana Malaysia Berhad. He said since Prasarana already operated the Rapid Penang buses, the services would be able to be seamlessly integrated.
Tan also reasoned that catamarans will have extra deck space for motorcycles and cyclists.
Rayer said the proposal has to be studied carefully before it is implemented as such high-speed vehicles may not be suitable in the channel due to the high volume of daily marine traffic there.
“The Penang Channel sees a high number of container vessels coming in and out of the harbour,” he said in a statement.
“Occasionally you also have a high number of fishing boats of various sizes criss-crossing the channel from one end to the other.”
He pointed an incident on Jan 28 where a catamaran off Sabah capsized while carrying 28 holiday-makers from China from a jetty in Tanjung Aru to Pulau Mengalum. Four people were killed and five more went missing in the accident.
He said the accident raised serious questions about safety features of high-speed catamarans.
Rayer urged the PPC, a regulatory agency under the Transport Ministry, to also clarify what would happen to the present workforce operating the ferries and if the plan is for them be absorbed to work on the proposed catamarans.
The current ferry service takes just 15 to 20 minutes to take passengers and vehicles along a 3.1 km stretch between the Raja Tun Uda Terminal in George Town and the Sultan Abdul Halim Terminal in Butterworth.
The ferry is the third link between the mainland and the island, the other two being the 13.5 km Penang Bridge and the 24 km Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge.